iPad Pro Will the new iPad Pro 2021 extend the display to an external monitor?

[Fomalhaut]

As per the title, I'm wondering what the support for extended desktops with external displays will be?

Will Apple apps (e.g. Safari, Pages) support it natively without any 3rd party apps to manage the screens?

I'm basically assessing the suitability of the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement.

 

[sparksd]

As per the title, I'm wondering what the support for extended desktops with external displays will be?

Will Apple apps (e.g. Safari, Pages) support it natively without any 3rd party apps to manage the screens?

I'm basically assessing the suitability of the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement.

There is no change from how it currently works and no rumors as to when that might change.

 

[ericwn]

One can but hope but nothing was announced that this feature is coming.

 

[scoobysnax]

Didn’t they say the new iPad Pro could drive a 6k external monitor?

 

[sparksd]

Didn’t they say the new iPad Pro could drive a 6k external monitor?

That does not mean that it will match the aspect ratio of that monitor. You will still have the mirroring of a 4:3 display.

 

[scoobysnax]

That does not mean that it will match the aspect ratio of that monitor. You will still have the mirroring of a 4:3 display.

I understand that, but when when they showed it hooked up to the pro display at the event, there were no black bars.

 

[sparksd]

I understand that, but when when they showed it hooked up to the pro display at the event, there were no black bars.

That was LumaFusion, which supports full screen display of edited content from within its app.

 

[PeteBurgh]

I understand that, but when when they showed it hooked up to the pro display at the event, there were no black bars.

There are and have been for a while a relatively small number of apps that do make full use (i.e. not just mirroring) of the external screen (for instance, LumaFusion and MindNode, to choose two random examples). However, these apps are very much the exception rather than the rule.

Proper external display support is still far from universally supported, at either OS or app level. If that's a priority for you, I suggest waiting until WWDC in 7 weeks at the very least. There is much speculation about what Apple will and won't do with external displays, but as ever buying a product on the basis of promised or imagined future software updates is a fool's errand.

 

[scoobysnax]

There are and have been for a while a relatively small number of apps that do make full use (i.e. not just mirroring) of the external screen (for instance, LumaFusion and MindNode, to choose two random examples). However, these apps are very much the exception rather than the rule.

Proper external display support is still far from universally supported, at either OS or app level. If that's a priority for you, I suggest waiting until WWDC in 7 weeks at the very least. There is much speculation about what Apple will and won't do with external displays, but as ever buying a product on the basis of promised or imagined future software updates is a food's errand.

Gotcha. That makes sense. External display support isn’t a must for me at the moment (have a 2016 intel MBP that I use for that). Although it would certainly be a nice feature to have on IPP.

 

[AutomaticApple]

Gotcha. That makes sense. External display support isn’t a must for me at the moment (have a 2016 intel MBP that I use for that). Although it would certainly be a nice feature to have on IPP.

Maybe at WWDC if we are lucky?

 

[PeteBurgh]

Maybe at WWDC if we are lucky?

Gosh, I certainly hope so. It's the $64,000 question at the moment.

There are a million threads here and on reddit speculating on the next step for 'pro' apps/external display support/crossover with macOS etc. Personally, I'm on the pessimistic end of the scale in that I think these are very complex problems to solve (much more so than people often suggest), and that Apple is more likely to add these things gradually over time rather than in one big bang this June.

But who knows!